Roses in Bloom for Chocolate Baroque

Good Morning Everyone and thanks for dropping by today.

Well, time is certainly flying by at a rate of knots this year and it is already 6 months since my last stint as a Chocolate Baroque Design Team 'part-timer' (AND we are over half way to Christmas, eeek) so it's my turn to share a project with you for the next 3 Wednesdays and I'm kicking off with a pretty, very feminine card using a colour combo that I love but rarely use of greys and peachy oranges.

1.  I cut a 19 cm sq of white card and painted the whole piece with grey acrylic chalk paint (I use PaperArtsy Fresco Finish throughout).  When it was thoroughly dry I ran it through a large embossing folder with a distress design (Crafters Companion) and then cut an aperture 12 cm sq from the centre.  I now have a nice square to use on another design.  

2.  I applied a good coat of White DecoArt Antiquing Cream and when this was dry gently removed some with a damp cloth until I achieved the desired effect.

3.  Although the cream dries it can be reactivated at any time with a damp cloth so if you want to fix it apply a coat of varnish or other sealer.  I used DecoArt Soft Touch Varnish which leaves a gorgeous velvety feel but is totally matte.  You have to work quickly and lightly to avoid the varnish reactivating the cream again.  Put the frame aside to dry thoroughly.

4.  Next I took another piece of card, this time 18 cm sq and applied acrylic paints in shades of peachy orange plus a little of the grey.  I often mix my Fresco's until I get the shade I want as I did here because I wanted varying depths of the peach tones.  I used an old credit card to scrape on the paint and then gave a light wash of watery white to tone it down a little.

5.  Using the same paints I applied grey through a crackle stencil, peach through a leafy stencil and a little white through a tiny squares stencil.  I finished this background piece by stamping the swirl using 2 different orangy shades of Archival Ink.

6.  Next I stamped the rose section from Chocolate Baroque's Crackling Rose several times and the same with a rose from their Harlequin Rose set.  I used the peachy tones to colour them then added touches of Inktense Pencil to add a little detail shading.  I cut them all out and layered up the Crackling Rose to create one full bloom and a couple of 'buds'.

7.  I adhered the background square to a 20 cm square base card with double sided tape, followed by the frame and finally arranged all the roses before adhering them with silicone glue (Pinflair) to create some depth.  I also added some lovely delicate dried flower sprays and some pearl trim from my stash.

8.  Finally I stamped the quote from Chocolate Baroque Words of Inspiration, cut it out and edged it with a black Pitt Pen before fixing to the card with 3D foam.

I hope you enjoyed my first DT offering for Chocolate Baroque this month.  Do stop by their blog if you have time as there is always fabulous inspiration from the rest of the talented team and I will be back next Wednesday with another share using very different stamps to this romantic card.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx